Did you guys see Bill Simmons’ Tortured Fan Base Mailbag? I submitted an email to Bill, and he ran it, only he failed to even mention my name. Instead, he lumped me in with some other guy.
If you read the SF part, you can read this email:
Arguably a Level 1 loss?
No monicker?
Game 6 is all any Giants fan needs to hear to be reminded of the single worst championship loss in baseball history. No team had ever lost a five-run lead with nine outs to go in a World Series game of any kind, let alone a World Series-clinching game, and the Giants did it in the span of 18 pitches!
Another key component to Level 1: you remember where you were when you saw the game. With 160-plus games in baseball, we’ll all suffer our share of heartbreakers that don’t matter. But the Giants losing Game 6 of the ’02 Series? That’s my “when JFK was shot” moment. I know exactly where I was, who I was with, and could recreate everything that was said and done from the sixth inning forward. The worst part wasn’t the ThunderSticks. The worst part was [the] next year when they started selling rally monkeys at AT&T Park because the wine-and-cheese crowd thought they were cute, and had no idea they were reminders of the Angels. I still can’t cheer 100 percent for Bengie Molina.
–Bryan, San Francisco
I wrote the first half of that. This part….
Arguably a Level 1 loss?
No monicker?
Game 6 is all any Giants fan needs to hear to be reminded of the single worst championship loss in baseball history. No team had ever lost a five-run lead with nine outs to go in a World Series game of any kind, let alone a World Series-clinching game, and the Giants did it in the span of 18 pitches!
Let me say that again….. I WROTE THAT!!! He left my name out of the whole piece, and credited some fucking guy named Bryan with MY WORK!!!
I got gypped by my favorite writer. What a buzz kill.
Very first factor , A large thank you for you to open my eyes.
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“Arguably?”
Even just look at RECENT let-downs. All stunning in some fashion (not saying we were championship-caliber each year, clearly). Just very abrupt endings to seasons. Here is an old email written the morning after the Spillborghs game at Coors:
“At least they went down kicking. SF scores 3 in the top of the 14th only to get beat with 5 in the bottom of the inning. (Key moment: Rockies P Adam Eaton draws a walk in the 14th without swinging the bat.) That was the third consecutive blown lead at Coors. Don’t get me wrong – this isn’t true sports heartbreak. Not even close. In fact, the season’s been a great surprise.
However, the general sporting public seems to have almost zero knowledge of the team’s recent history/epidemic of choke-jobs. Can any current team rival these consistent meltdowns??? (’99-’08 Philadelphia Eagles maybe??? The Colts until ’06-’07 postseason?) Please look at the following (’98, ’02, ’03 & ’04 are nearly incomprehensible):
93: Win 103 games but miss playoffs on final day
97: Beaten by two walk-off hits in Division Series
98: Blow 7-run lead on final day at Coors which costs SF the Wild Card. Lose one-game playoff the next night at Wrigley
00: The only great post-’93 SF team of this era…and they suffer a brutal postseason loss to the Mets
02: No comment
03: 100-win team loses Game 3 to Marlins on Gold-Glover Jose Cruz Jr.’s dropped flyball. Lose Game 4 in more dignified fashion – Snow thrown out at plate
04: Dodgers score 7 in bottom of ninth to stun SF on final Saturday…and take both the Division and Wild Card from the Giants (hope Astros fans appreciate this). Cody Ransom booted a double-play ball in this 9th inning. Sabean really shouldn’t have given away Joe Nathan before the season.
01 was a very disappointing finish obscured by a home run race. And the 05 team (granted, they were a bad team) had their hopes ended in a brutal Benitez home-stunner against San Diego with about 10 days left (no, the Randy Winn/Brian Giles game was not a chance at redemption – they needed a 4-game road sweep in SD).
Again, something like last night just makes a fan laugh at this point. You just turn on an extended Dead version of “Turn On Your Love Light” or “The Eleven” on the next morning’s drive to work. But in general, will this ever end???
P.S. trade acquisition Freddy Sanchez to the DL? Sabean please admit your incompetence.”
That is a stunningly depressing stroll down memory lane. Sharply painful memories.
You are absolutely right to bring this up.
It only hurts two times. When laughing. When I stop laughing.
It’s a conspiracy!
I like Ring Lardner on baseball and P.G. Wodehouse on golf, if we’re limiting it to sports. Lardner died in 1933 and Wodehouse died in 1975, so they don’t have much to say about the current state of the games. If you haven’t read Lardner’s baseball stories you should check them out. He was one of the most influential short story writers of the first half of the 20th century, and he was a great sports writer. He’s portrayed by John Sayles in Eight Men Out – he’s the guy walking through the train singing “I’m forever blowing ball games” to the tune of “I’m forever blowing bubbles”. If you remember that movie. His collection of baseball stories “You Know Me Joe” is a classic.
Correction, the title is “You know me, Al”.
Bummer.
I know. Total buzz kill.
I emailed him but it hasn’t been changed.
I don’t have favorite writers except you and Glenn Dickey.
Serious.
Thanks, I guess. That sounds kinda grim, there, my friend.
Tuesday Morning Quarterback is awesome, as is Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy. I like Malcom Gladwell, Bill Bryson, John Sanford, Stephen King, to name a couple off the top of my head.
I was limiting my choices to folks I read for sports opinions. There are plenty others whose works I like and find interesting from time to time. I just don’t value their opinions nearly as much.
It is hard to write consistently contrarian, but true, stories. Most would rather go along to get along. Many others are simply anti-establishment for the sake of being controversial without a balanced moral world view.
Its a tough road to travel. But worthy.